16: British adults reach for a gadget every 16 minutes. The average Briton owns two gadgets, such as smartphones, tablets and Fitbits/activity trackers, and uses them around 60 times per day. Smartphones are relied upon the most, being used 47 times a day or every 20.4 minutes. Those aged 18-24 years are most addicted to their gadgets, reaching for technology more than 124 times per day or every 7.7 minutes. (Source: UK Gadget Usage Report 2017, ElectricTobacconist.co.uk).

The Month in numbers

19: Just one in five (19%) UK managers favours a ‘hard Brexit’ according to research from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). Over two thirds (71%) think a deal that secures access to the single market and/or freedom of movement of people would be the best outcome of Brexit negotiations. Two in five (37%) believe the decision to call a general election has had a negative impact on their organisation and caused more uncertainty.

32: A third (32%) of sole traders and microbusinesses admit that managing their finances leaves them feeling stressed, a study by business management software provider KashFlow reveals. However, only 6% rated their finance management abilities as ‘not good’, with 87% rating themselves either ‘really good’ or ‘not bad’ at doing things like keeping on top of cashflow, managing payments and staying compliant

35: More than a third of executives (35%) believe resumes are less important to the job search process than they were 5 years ago. In a survey by the Futurestep division of Korn Ferry over three quarters of executives (77%) said networking was the most important part of the job process, followed by interviewing (16%) and social/online presence (4%). Resumes came in last at just 3%.

77: Almost four in five (77%) British consumers have concerns about using new payment methods, a survey by law firm Paul Hastings reveals. The risk of fraud was cited as the main reason (59%) for not using new payment methods, followed by data security incidents (49%) and the risk of theft (45%).

44: Out of 4,000 employees surveyed, 44% have been paid late by their employer, global HR and payroll service provider SD Worx has found. Of those, 48% have also been paid incorrectly. More than three quarters (79%) of those who were paid the wrong amount had to identify the error themselves. On average, employees experiencing a delay in payment had to wait between one and a half and two weeks.

93: A large majority (93%) of UK businesses are concerned about the security challenges posed by a growing mobile workforce. Four in 10 (40%) believe that C-level executives are most at risk of being hacked when working outside the office. Cafes and coffee shops are seen as the number one high-risk venue by 42% of respondents, ahead of airports (30%), hotels (16%), exhibition centres (7%) and airplanes (4%). (source: iPass Mobile Security Report 2017, iPass)

11,000: The average British mother who has to leave her career for a more flexible job will take a pay cut of £11,000 a year, a survey by www.VoucherCodesPro.co.uk reveals. Just two fifths (41%) of the 2,418 women surveyed returned to their previous career after having children. Of those who didn’t, 64% switched to a job with more flexible hours and 25% became stay-at-home parents.

1 million: Blizz by TeamViewer, a dedicated web conferencing and collaboration solution, reached 1 million minutes of online meetings just two months after its official launch. Blizz provides a simple set-up process that lets users start and join meetings instantly via a web interface. Additionally, meetings with up to 300 participants can be held on Windows, MacOS, Android and iOS devices.

140 billion: Organisations in the US and UK are losing $140 billion each year to disconnected data, according to a study commissioned by software company SnapLogic. In 41% of organisations, critical company data is trapped in legacy systems that cannot be accessed or linked to cloud services. As a result, workers are spending more time searching for, acquiring, entering or moving data (8 hours per week) than they are making decisions on that data (7 hours per week).